Appointment of Abraham Lincoln as Secretary of the Territory of Oregon, 9 August 18491
Zachary Taylor
President of the U[nit]ed States of A[m]erica,
To all who shall [see?] these Presents, Greeti[ng:]
President of the U[nit]ed States of A[m]erica,
To all who shall [see?] these Presents, Greeti[ng:]
Know Ye: That reposing special trust and e[vi]dence in the Integrity and Ability of Abraham Lincoln Illinois I do appoint him Secretary of the T[err]itory of Oreg[on] and do authorize and empower him to execute and fulfil the [dut]ies of that Office according [to] law and to have and to hold the said Office, with all the pow[er] privileges and emolu[men]ts thereunto of right appertaining, unto him; the said Abraham Lincoln [?] during the pleasur[e] of the President of the United States for the time being and until [the] end of the next [se]ssion of the Senate of the United States and no long[er].
In Testimony w[here]of, I have caused these Letters to be made patent and the seal of the Un[ite]d States to be hereunto aff[ixed.]
Given under my h[an]d, at the City of Washing[ton] the ninth day of August , the year of our Lord, one [tho]usand eight hundred and forty nine and of the Independence of th[e] United States of America, the [seven]ty fourth.
seal By the President: Z Taylor.John M. Clayton Secretary of State.
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12/09/1865
seal William H. Seward4
12/09/1865
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
To all to whom these presents shall come, Greeting: I certify, That the document hereunto annexed is a true copy from the records in this Department–
In testimony whereof, I, William H. Seward, Secretary OF State of the United States, have hereunto subscribed my name and caused the seal of the Department of State to be affixed.
[D]ONE at the City of Washington, this ninth day of December , A.D. 18 65, and of the Independence of the United States of America the 90th
seal William H. Seward4
1An unknown person filled in the blanks in this document. Zachary Taylor and John
M. Clayton signed their own names.
2George P. Fisher wrote and signed this endorsement.
President Taylor appointed Abraham Lincoln secretary of the Oregon Territory less
than a month after he appointed Justin H. Butterfield commissioner of the U.S. General Land Office, a position Lincoln had sought after learning that Butterfield was favored for the
job. See the General Land Office Affair. As Lincoln explained in a May 16, 1849 letter to William B. Preston, he believed the appointment of Butterfield to such a valuable patronage position
would represent an affront to Whigs in Illinois who had worked so hard to get Taylor nominated and elected president. Many Illinois Whigs were indeed upset by Butterfield’s appointment and criticized
both President Taylor and Secretary of the Interior Thomas Ewing. The administration hoped that by offering Lincoln the position of secretary of
the Oregon Territory, it would appease any angry Illinois Whigs and prevent additional
attacks upon Butterfield’s appointment. In a letter to Secretary of State John M. Clayton dated August 21, 1849, Lincoln declined the
appointment for secretary of the Oregon Territory and recommended Simeon Francis for the position instead. Lincoln wrote Clayton on September 12, 1849, endorsing Hart Fellows as “worthy” of either a judgeship or appointment as secretary of the Oregon Territory,
while also stipulating that Francis was his personal choice for the latter. In this
letter to Clayton, Lincoln enclosed a recommendation letter for Fellows from Orville H. Browning and others. Lincoln also wrote Clayton a letter September 16, 1849 and a letter September 27, 1849, reiterating his endorsement of Francis for secretary of the Oregon
Territory. In the end, Taylor appointed Edward Hamilton of Ohio to the position.
On September 20, 1849, in a final effort to ease any tensions caused by Butterfield’s
appointment, the Taylor administration also offered Lincoln appointment as governor
of the Oregon Territory. After serious consideration of this offer, Lincoln also turned
this position down, at least in part because Mary Lincoln had no desire to live in such a remote location. Taylor appointed John P. Gaines of Virginia governor of the Oregon Territory instead.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:306-7; Register of all Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of
the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1849 (Washington, DC: Gideon, 1849), 250; Abraham Lincoln to Thomas Ewing.
Partially Printed Document Signed with a Representation, 2 page(s), Miscellaneous Manuscripts, University of Chicago (Chicago, IL) .